The improved lock mechanism of the present invention arose out of the need to securely lock the halves of an injection mold together against the high pressures generated during injection and curing of a thermoplastic or similar material, which pressure can easily generate forces exceeding 25 tons.
One mechanism for locking mold halves together is disclosed in copending application Ser. No. 206,806, filed Nov. 14, 1980 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,727, entitled "ROTARY BALL LOCK" and owned by the Assignee of the present invention. Although the locking mechanism disclosed therein is very effective, precise radial alignments must be provided and maintained between certain parts thereof, which necessarily limits the extent to which the manufacturing cost of the mechanism can be minimized.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved locking mechanism for tightly holding together the sections of an injection mold during the injection molding process.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a locking mechanism, as aforesaid, which does not require precise alignment of the cooperating parts thereof and is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a locking mechanism, as aforesaid, which is simple, durable and requires little or no maintenance.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a locking mechanism, as aforesaid, which is small in both size and weight, and which may be self-contained within the injection mold.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a locking mechanism, as aforesaid, which may be actuated smoothly and effortlessly, but will securely lock together the mold parts against the high pressures generated during the injection molding process.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a locking mechanism, as aforesaid, which is capable of rapid engagement and disengagement, in order to facilitate maximum production output.